Pray for your family… and enemies…

Prayers are needed for both Bishop Long his family, and the families of the accusers. God wants us to love everyone who we touch unconditionally. That sometimes is difficult- as the people who stand against us are hard to love. But each time you do it, it becomes easier.

Wow, what about the abused young men, don’t they deserve our prayers? If Eddie Long is innocent God will vindicate him. Stop feeling sorry for this man, he did not say he didn’t do it. I have a 19 year old son, and if someone were to use their authority to take advantage of him, they would need the hand of God to stop me from exercising my right to seek vengeance. I pray that this sick man is removed from the accessibility of these young men. Mothers of New Birth lock up your young men, there’s a predator on the in your mist.

I am most concerned about our young people who will think twice about coming forward with their own abusive situations when they see how grown adults are blaming the victims and accusing them of lying before knowing all the facts or seeing all the evidence of the case. The prosecution will save the best evidence for the trial. Why should they show all their cards now? They will continue to leak a few things here and there to keep it in the news, but don’t expect the most damaging evidence to come before the court date arrives. What we must also do is separate one man’s actions from the good the church has done. There is no doubt that New Birth has raised a lot of money and hope for people worldwide, but that does not mean the Bishop did not get his hands dirty in the process. I am very disappointed that the Bishop could not say something as simple as I am INNOCENT of the accusations I am charged with. Surly proclaiming your innocence with that simple statement could not be against your lawyer’s advice unless you’re really not innocent at all. In the 8am service, Bishop likened himself to “David”, but in the 11am service he slipped up and first likened himself to “Goliath”, then there was a gasp in the congregation and he realized his mistake and corrected himself. I say that freudian slip reveals a lot about his true beliefs. IF Bishop is preying on the weaknesses of young men for his own pleasure, it will come out. After all, what goes on in the dark will come out in the light. The accusers may be young men now, but they were boys when the incidents may have started. There are many cases in which victims actually protect their abusers no matter what the age or form of abuse. Some may say that these boys had the power to say no and not sleep in the same bed with the Bishop, but the reason these boys were most likely chosen by the Bishop if the allegations are true is because abusers seek out the weak. They don’t look for the ones who are strong enough to fight back, they go after the ones who are broken and feel alone, rejected. People can project one image to the world and you would never know how weak they really are. The Bishop is in a position to know how to spot the week, know how to convince them to trust him, and know what to do to keep them quiet. Abused victims are not always sad and downtrodden. Some hide it very well. Some are too embarrassed to let it show. For some, it takes one thing to set them off before they say I’ve had enough. And for others, it takes the courage of seeing someone else come forward to have the strength to speak up. Also, the fact that these boys could have kept their names from being printed and chose not to hide behind anonymity, says a lot to me. Actually, it speaks volumes. The Bishop’s inability to proclaim his innocence on Sunday spoke volumes to me too. I only hope that we can separate one man’s actions from the church. The church is not the problem. It is the people in the church; the individuals that preach one thing and do another are the problem. This will be a tough battle for the Bishop and his accusers. I am less concerned about the Bishop’s credibility, but I feel for his children who have to be drug through the mud with him. And because of the Bishop’s influence in the community, with businesses, entertainers and in politics, I think the accusers are the ones who I would see as representing “David” and the Bishop as “Goliath”. Their only saving grace is that this will be a civil matter and not a criminal matter where the burden of proof is not as strict. Maybe Bishop waited until these boys passed the age of consent for this very reason. To all young people, please know that if you are being sexually abused, regardless of what others may think, regardless of who may call you a liar, regardless of how influential you believe your accusar is, please do not be afraid to step forward. By doing so, you will spare someone else from going through the same pain that you already have. I urge everyone who supports the Bishop to not forget that they may know the Bishop, but they don’t sleep or eat with him daily. Be a follower of Christ, not the Bishop. Imagine if it were your son or daughter who accused the Bishop of these allegations. Then what would you do as you waited for all the evidence. For all who say these young men just want money, it’s really not about the money. That is just how our justice system works. There are many who sue for wrongful death cases in court and those families don’t for one second believe that getting the money will equate to the life that was lost. But our justice system uses a monetary award as a way for the guilty to pay for their actions in civil cases. So you can’t blame the prosecution for suing for monetary gain. Just saying someone is guilty is not enough. The accused must pay a financial sum for their guilt. I did not feel good watching the church service yesterday. There was so much hoopla when the Bishop took the podium, it was more like a rock concert was about to start. For a minute I thought the President of the United States or Michael Jackson was on stage. All the Bishop had to do was remove his glasses and there would be an uproar in the congregation. He played the crowd very well. Left everyone sitting at the edge of their seat while the words slowly dripped from his lips. He paused at just the right times to allow for the explosion of applause. What a spectacle. This is what those boys are up against. I ask you, who in their right mind would want to go up against this man (the Bishop) with all the power and might he has behind him unless you are telling the truth?

WOW! You said it all,I do believe that we need to also PRAY for those young men and any other young man that may be going through the same thing. You are RIGHT everyone is saying pray for the Bishop but what about prayer for the young men and their family.

Amazing how you’ll fall for anything. So 34 boys were supposedly molestered? And not one mother – NOT ONE – noticed their son acting differently at some point? Does that all make sense to you? Think and wait for the facts before you accuse the man. If you were in his shoes, you would want proof not speculation and theory. Use your common sense people!.